Lecture 16 - The case of Italian institutions
Comparative Politics - POLS 3311
2024-04-08
Today
- Background and historical overview to Putnam article
- Putnam article
- Related articles/concepts and discussionNext week: Democratic Backsliding, Repression, Autocracy Promotion
Background Reading for next week:
Understanding and Responding to Global Democratic Backsliding
NEW REPORT: More Governments Engaged in More Transnational Repression during 2022
Making Democracy Work
(The book is available used for about 5 dollars, on Kindle for a higher price, and may available through the library or Interlibrary Loan)
Italy was not unified until 1861
Prior to unification there were a variety of governments
The North had a system of self-governing mostly republican city-states
- Florence, Milan, Venice, Genoa, Verona, Pisa
- Many maintained the republican institutions of Rome **
- These were the center of the Italian Renaissance
- They were trading and banking centersItaly was not unified until 1861
Prior to unification there were a variety of governments
The North had a system of self-governing mostly republican city-states
The South was ruled by a variety of monarchies
- importantly many were foreign monarchs
- Byzantine Empire until the 1070s
- Competing with the Germanic Lombards
- Norman conquest in the 11th century and the Norman Kingdom of Sicily **
- The French in the 1200s
- The Spanish (Aragon) in the 1400sIn previous lecture, I mentioned that one explanation of the difference between Protestant and Catholic countries development was the comparison of Germanic and Roman institutions. In Italy, we see the reverse pattern. What might explain this?
One possible answer is that the Normans were a foreign power, but they conquered England at almost the same time. Why did England develop differently?
In previous lecture, I mentioned that one explanation of the difference between Protestant and Catholic countries development was the comparison of Germanic and Roman institutions. In Italy, we see the reverse pattern. What might explain this?
- One possible answer is that the Normans were a foreign power colonial power while the northern republicans (and small monarchies) had a history of self-government.
- This is consistent with Putnam, et al. and the idea of developing civil society. In previous lecture, I mentioned that one explanation of the difference between Protestant and Catholic countries development was the comparison of Germanic and Roman institutions. In Italy, we see the reverse pattern. What might explain this?
- One possible answer is that the Normans were a foreign power colonial power while the northern republicans (and small monarchies) had a history of self-government.
- Along with maintaining Roman republican institutions, they also maintained a degree of urbanization and trade that was not present in the North of Europe or the South of Italy.
- It's actually questionable to what extent Roman Republican institutions survived in the southern European monarchies.
- We assume they did, because the monarchies adopted the late Roman legal code but they did not adopt the system of Assembly and Senate from the early to mid Republic.One possible answer is that they did not bring the right institutions with them
- In extractive colonies, colonizers did not bring institutions of self government
- In settler colonies, they didOne possible answer is that they did not bring the right institutions with them
- In extractive colonies, colonizers did not bring institutions of self government
- In settler colonies, they didIn England:
- The first Duke of Normany was the Viking Rollo, a little over a century before the Norman Conquest of England.
- The Norman kings were also nobles in France and remained so with a combination of Norse and Germanic institutions there as well.
- In England, they retained some Anglo-Saxon nobles and their institutions,
- Their own Norse institutions were similar.One possible answer is that they did not bring the right institutions with them
- In extractive colonies, colonizers did not bring institutions of self government
- In settler colonies, they didIn England:
- Norman institutions were similar to those in England.
- In England, they retained some Anglo-Saxon nobles and their institutions,
- Their own Norse institutions were similar.In southern Italy:
- The Norman kings settled and took on an Italian focus
- The foreign Norman institutions would have weakened the monarchy compared to the native institutions left over from Byzantine Imperial rule
- There was not much attempt to bring in Norman institutions compared to EnglandBackground Reading for next week:
Understanding and Responding to Global Democratic Backsliding
NEW REPORT: More Governments Engaged in More Transnational Repression during 2022
Putnam bookcover: Princeton University Press
Author: Tom Hanna
Website: tomhanna.me
License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.</>
POLS3311, Spring 2024, Instructor: Tom Hanna